


Love and Loyalty

by YuliaLeafhill



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Discussions of Death and Violence, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Naruto Founders Week 2019, Prompt 'Loyalty', Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 14:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19907380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YuliaLeafhill/pseuds/YuliaLeafhill
Summary: Tobirama has his concerns when Hashirama recklessly agrees to solidify the Senju-Uchiha alliance with a marriage contract, especially after finding out who the groom will be, but maybe there are some advantages to agreeing to the contract after all.





	Love and Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

> My first contribution to Naruto Founders Week 2019! Monday's prompts were Loyalty or Forest, and I picked Loyalty. I had some trouble writing this at first... but now my brain is insisting more, so don't be surprised if this ends up being continued later. ^^'

“Absolutely not!” Tobirama seethed as he watched his brother pace a hole in the floor of his office. “Anija, how could you accept that condition without consultation? They’re _Uchiha_!”  
  
“Ah, come now, Tobirama,” Hashirama stopped his pacing to grin at him nervously. “It’s tradition!”  
  
“Not with Uchiha!” Tobirama groaned, feeling his temples pound with a headache that he fondly named ‘Anija’.  
  
“ _With everyone_ ,” Hashirama pointed out. “Alliance is sealed with marriage to join the clans, always. Father allied with the Uzumaki _and_ the Hatake when he married mother, something which was almost unheard of! Of course both of our parents had passed by the time I took father’s place as the clan head, so I had to renew our alliance with the Uzumaki by marrying Mito. It’s been a bit rocky with the Hatake after that of course, but I think they’re still hoping you’ll reach out to them, since, well, you take after mother more than I ever did.”  
  
Tobirama glared at his brother at the reminder of his duty. Had the war not taken Kawarama so soon, there was a high chance his younger brother would have been delighted to take on the duty to solidify the alliance with the Hatake. Kawarama had taken care of their mother’s wolf triplets after she’d passed and they’d fought to the death by his side. As things stood, the thought of marrying a Hatake and needing to accommodate to their wolves in his house brought forth such painful memories of both his mother and his brother that it made Tobirama nauseous. He didn’t know how, but he would have to find a way to pass that responsibility to someone else.  
  
“A-Anyway,” Hashirama’s continued, his nervous grin turned into a grimace under Tobirama’s glare. “It’s tradition, and you can’t tell me there’s a better way! Traditions are important, Tobirama!”  
  
“And who, exactly, do you expect to marry into the Uchiha, and to whom?”  
  
“Ahhh,” Hashirama groaned and resumed his pacing, running his hands through his hair. “Well, that’s the problem… I haven’t really… decided yet. I mean, most of our clan members are either happily attached or courting, and if they haven’t, they’ve lost so many to the Uchiha that just saying the name makes them go into a murderous rage…”  
  
“And you’re _allying_ us with that clan,” Tobirama snorted.  
  
“Tobi~” Hashirama moaned. “Don’t be like that, it’s tradition, it’s a solid alliance, and the damn war stops. Do you want to keep burying our family?”  
  
Tobirama flinched and looked away, gritting his teeth.  
  
He did not. He would give anything to stop burying his family, and if he could just stop fearing he would have to bury Touka or god forbid, _Hashirama_ …  
  
The thought of lowering his brother, dressed in his red armour, into a grave- Tobirama shuddered and shook the thought out of his head.  
  
“… and?” Tobirama sighed. “The ‘to whom’?”  
  
“Huh?” Hashirama looked up, momentarily confused before it clicked and a grin spread across his lips once more. “Oh! Well, Madara volunteered!”  
  
“ _What?!_ ” Tobirama blanched, his heart lurching in his chest. “Anija, have you lost your mind? You can’t ask someone to marry _him_! They’ll either be dead in a day or they’ll assassinate him and die after that anyway! No!”  
  
“Madara volunteered to marry whomever I choose for him, he wouldn’t kill them Tobirama,” Hashirama laughed. “And really, as romantic as it would be to marry for love, arranged marriages for the sake of an alliance are about loyalty to the clan first. It’s about wanting to make your clan stronger and keeping it safe, not about finding your perfect match. Sure, it’s great if you find love in your match, like I did with Mito, but even if you don’t… well, it’s for the clan.”  
  
“And Madara agrees to that?” Tobirama frowned. “What if you find that the only person you find willing to marry him is a man, like what almost happened with you and Mito’s brother, before you appealed? He’s the clan head, isn’t he supposed to provide the clan with a heir, or is he leaving that to Izuna? How could the Uchiha Elders agree to that?”  
  
“Ah,” Hashirama paused… before grimacing. “I… hadn’t thought of that. He probably assumes I’d choose a woman and they’d…”  
  
Tobirama stared at his brother in horror.  
  
“… Uchiha-Senju… hybrid?”  
  
“Tobirama!” Hashirama spluttered. “An Uchiha-Senju _child_!”  
  
“Seriously, Anija?” Tobirama sneered. “Child? You two are freaks of nature; imagine mixing Madara’s genes with a Senju, the _child_ would be an unbeatable monster.”  
  
“… well at least they wouldn’t be slaughtered at the age of five,” Hashirama sighed.  
  
Tobirama felt a wave of sickness flash through him at the thought of Itama, his two toned hair making an even more direct connection to an Uchiha-Senju child and he couldn’t-  
  
“I’ll do it.”  
  
_… what the hell had he just said?_ Tobirama blinked, trying to make sense of what had just come out of his mouth.  
  
Hashirama didn’t seem to be faring any better on the comprehension front. “… what?”  
  
“Asking someone, like the pot maker’s daughter, to marry a monster like Madara would be inhuman,” Tobirama explained, his mind running ahead of his heart. It was a terrible idea, absolutely horrifying… and yet…  
  
“And not only would you be dooming her to death, it would be an insult to the Uchiha. If you’re marrying a Senju to the Uchiha clan head, they need to have a substantial standing in the clan. Touka would work, she’s loyal enough, but she’s already courting someone… that only leaves me. I’m not fragile enough to die in his hands by accident, unlike some civilian girl in her blush of youth; and at least, unless Madara’s desperate to break the alliance and to insult you, he won’t kill me on purpose. And if it did happen, no one would be dumb enough to think I had been killed by accident.”  
  
“He’s not going to kill a Senju-” Hashirama insisted before catching Tobirama’s disbelieving look. “- well, anymore. That’s the whole point of this alliance. And besides, you can’t; not only are you not a woman, you’re all but promised to the Hatake by tradition-”  
  
“Then un-promise me, damn it!” Tobirama spat. He couldn’t make sense of the mess of emotions running rampant in his body, but the foremost ones were, confusingly enough, blind terror and overwhelming relief.  
  
“Hatake are family oriented, they don’t place high value on social standing, beyond the alpha pair; they don’t care if you promise them the pot maker’s daughter, so long as you make a case of her importance to the clan in some other way, like fertility for instance. I can’t- Anija, please, I’d rather willingly die by Madara’s hands than marry a Hatake; I wouldn’t be able to handle the reminder.”  
  
“The re-” Hashirama blanched. “Of… of Kawarama?… T-Tobirama… I… I’m sorry, I didn’t realise… but then, what of the reminder of Itama?”  
  
“Itama was killed by the Uchiha, so have a lot of our clansmen,” Tobirama admitted. “But if I married a Hatake, they would bring their wolves… I can’t wake up in a puppy pile, Anija. I can’t walk down the halls dodging playing wolves and hear children laughing as they chase them down.”  
  
“You can handle the Sharingan and the reminder of your dead relatives, but not the canines?” Hashirama asked, feeling out of his depth, but at the same time realising how much Tobirama still suffered from the loss of both their mother, brother and family companions.  
  
“I’m used to expecting red death and scorching flames,” Tobirama sighed, lifting his hand to cover his face, feeling almost light headed. “I can live with not finding romance and I’ve never had the deep compulsion to father children. I’m alright with that… but I can’t live the rest of my life waking up to a reenactment of my childhood. Please, Anija… don’t make me.”  
  
He could feel his brother’s stare and could almost taste the outpouring grief and confusion from Hashirama.  
  
“… alright, if that’s what you want,” Hashirama sighed. “But you’re still not a woman… _and_ you almost killed Izuna.”  
  
“His own fault for not specifying then,” Tobirama huffed, feeling a wave of relief in the knowledge that he had finally managed to tell Hashirama his feelings about the Hatake and had been listened to. “And Izuna almost blew me up in retaliation; we almost killed each other. If he’s still sore about that… well, he’s just going to have to deal with it. It’s not like I’ll be challenging Izuna to a fight to death if he’s my _brother-in-law_. Unlike the Uchiha, the Senju tend to frown upon killing family members; you might remind him of that when you suggest the match between us.”  
  
“Tobi…” Hashirama sighed in a long suffering tone before dropping to sit by his desk. “Are you sure? Really sure? If I write this response to him and he accepts, there’s no take backs. Can you live with this? I… I always… I thought you’d at least give me nieces or nephews to spoil…”  
  
“ _Anija_ ,” Tobirama laughed breathlessly, shaking his head. “Don’t force other people to sacrifice what you cannot yourself; give away of your own to lead by example. Don’t make the clan think of you as an unreasonable leader by forcing one of the other families to wed their daughter to the monster who killed their sons; instead give away your last brother to the man whose brothers we’ve killed.”  
  
“They killed Itama as well-” Hashirama frowned.  
  
“Let that be your show of trust,” Tobirama waved his hand tiredly. “You say that you trust the Uchiha; that you trust _Madara_? Trust him with your last brother.”  
  
“And their show of trust to _us_ ?” Hashirama asked, in an uncharacteristic show of head for politics.  
  
“What, you think it’s not enough of a show of trust that not only is the clan head trusting you choose who he marries, but if he agrees to marry me, he’d be trusting in your faith in my loyalty, to you and the clan? He’d be trusting you enough to let the White Death walk straight into his _home_ , Anija.”  
  
Hashirama frowned.  
  
“I… I don’t know, Tobirama. Rather than seeing it as a show of trust, the clan might call for you to take the chance to wipe the Uchiha out.”  
  
Tobirama raised a brow, giving his brother a bland look.  
  
“Say the word and it’s done.”  
  
“Tobirama!” Hashirama snapped, slamming his hands to the desk in front of him. “That’s exactly what I mean-”  
  
“And my point exactly,” Tobirama sighed, waiting as Hashirama slumped back down in confusion. “You wouldn’t give me permission, Anija. You would never forgive me if I did, and the Uchiha will just have to trust that your love is more important to me than letting my own instincts control me. If given the choice, I would gladly run my sword through every Uchiha in Fire Country. I would cut them down to the last woman and child, if it kept ours safe. But if doing so would lose me my brother, I would rather turn my sword on myself.”  
  
Hashirama stared at him and Tobirama saw his chest shudder as tears rose into his eyes-  
  
“Oh for- don’t _cry_ Anija, you’re a grown man and a clan head!”  
  
“But Tobi, you _love_ me!” Hashirama wailed, burying his face in his hands.  
  
Tobirama groaned. “If I didn’t love you, Madara and Izuna would both be six feet under and we wouldn’t be having this conversation, Anija. And I resent you crying about it as if you didn’t know; you cannot tell me you’ve forgotten how you rose to your position.”  
  
Hashirama sniffled but visibly pulled himself together. “… I haven’t forgotten.”  
  
Tobirama hummed in satisfaction, looking away, uncomfortable with his brother’s tears as well as the topic.  
  
“… you just keep on making sacrifices for me, don’t you, Tobirama?” Hashirama sighed.  
  
“Well that’s what it is; love and loyalty to my family,” Tobirama grumbled, rising to his feet. “Now write the damn letter and let me know if he accepts; I’m going to go see if Touka is willing to kick my ass for agreeing to this farce of a marriage.”  
  
“It’s not a farce! It's an important part of the alliance, and most of all it’s tra-”  
  
“- tradition, yes, I heard you the first four times,” Tobirama sighed. “The things I do for you, Anija…”  
  
“I love you too, Tobirama!” Hashirama grinned, cheerfully dodging the shuriken Tobirama threw at him in irritation. “Aww, don’t be grumpy. Madara’s quite the charmer when he wants to be; you never know, you might end up falling in love with him after all!”  
  
“That… is never going to happen,” Tobirama gave his brother a disgusted look and walked out without glancing back, ignoring the words his brother called after him.  
  
_“You can’t fight love, Tobirama!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story! If you'd be interested in reading more of this, please let me know!


End file.
